Hey, NYT! (Or Is That N.Y.T.?)

I probably read too much news, but one of my main sources is the New York Times. The “newspaper of record” and all of that. Hundreds of years of tradition, editors a bit obsessed over a consistent and proper style.

So reading today, I saw

and I wondered, why does “U.S.” have periods, but “NATO” doesn’t? “U.S.” is obviously an abbreviation for “United States”, but isn’t “NATO” an abbreviation for “North Atlantic Treaty Organization?”

That thought simmered until I saw

and it got me thinking again. (I know, that can be dangerous, but humor me here.) Isn’t “HBO” just an abbreviation for “Home Box Office?”

So I went looking.

Networks seem to not rate periods, even though they are abbreviations for “American Broadcasting Company”

or “National Broadcasting Company.”

Yet, the “National Collegiate Athletic Association” gets periods,

as does the “United Nations,” but surprisingly now,

“North Carolina” does not rate,

nor does the “National Aeronautics & Space Administration.”

Sports leagues seem to be pretty consistent, all getting periods, as in

“Major League Baseball,”

“National Football League,”

“National Basketball Association,”

and the “National Hockey League.”

But then, just when there seems to be consistency, there’s

the “Professional Golfer’s Association” which suddenly does not have periods, but

the “Ladies Professional Golf Association” does.

“General Motors” has been in the news a lot, and it gets abbreviated

as “G.M.”

and the “United Auto Workers” becomes “U.A.W.”, but

“Volkswagen” is just “VW.” Okay, maybe that’s a nickname instead of an abbreviation. (My head is spinning.)

Best of all, the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People”

sometimes has periods,

and sometimes doesn’t.

That was it for me. Despite the reputation of the New York Times for having an obsession about consistency, I’m not seeing it.

As a last, desperate measure, I googled a question about “New York Times headline styles” and found a nice page that seems to have something of an explanation a few items down (“Why Nascar, Not NASCAR?”) I guess I’m not appreciating a finer distinction between abbreviations and acronyms, and I had no idea that some of them are all caps and some are written in upper and lower case.

Great, another can of worms opened.

As long as we’re being infinitely recursive in our search for meta,

shouldn’t “FAQ” be “F.A.Q.” since it’s an abbreviation for “Frequently Asked Questions?”

I could use some clarification here, New York Times.

Or is that “NY Times?” Or “N.Y. Times?”

Or “NYT?” Or “N.Y.T.?”

I don’t even want to start on whether or not that last question mark should be inside the quotes or outside…